ISRAEL #2

Board of Trustees December 1982 Denver, Colorado

ISRAEL #2

Having overwhelmingly adopted a resolution that we as Reform Jews, bound together with Israel in a covenantal relationship and sharing a vision for the Jewish State, have an obligation to become involved in and to address ourselves to the great issues that will impact on both Israel and the destiny of the entire Jewish people; and having also concluded that we have the further obligation to speak out informedly and constructively on those issues with love and concern for our brothers and sisters in Israel; and recognizing that among those issues are some that are deeply complex and complicated and that must be sympathetically and critically explored in depth at all levels of our movement in a search for some significant degree of consensus and a direction that we as a religious community must take with respect to them,

WE, THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UAHC, therefore, urge all Reform congregations in the United States and Canada to enter into a study, dialogue, and debate on all such issues, including Israel's settlement policy, the future of Judea and Samaria, the development of more effective instrumentalities through which to express our views, and the nature of our commitment to the strengthening of aliyah.

We do so in the hope and belief that such a search and discussion are in the great tradition of our people and are required of us as a major religious movement in Jewish life.

We hope that out of such discussions may emerge knowledge and consensus; out of such inquiry may emerge accommodation; and out of frankness and candor may emerge great understanding and mutual respect.

We call upon the staff of the Union to prepare the appropriate background material, including the papers and summary reports of the proceedings of this Board meeting, and distribute them to our congregations in order that the implementation of this resolution be facilitated and the process initiated.